ProBending
by Yes I'm A Guy
Summary: Akuza and Yakozu are two twin benders with a powerful family legacy and a new path to pave through Pro-Bending in Empire City


"Akuza!" Yakozu called from across the hallway.

"Yeah, Yakozu?" Akuza said with a scowl. He was less than enthusiastic about walking with Yakozu. They were twins and everything but he was annoyed with spending so much time with him. They had school together, they did the same sports, and they even had the same clubs with each other. The worst part about it was that Yakozu was so sensitive. Akuza didn't want to tell Yakozu how he felt because he was always picked on when they were younger. Even though he was popular enough now, he was still sensitive. He had plenty of friends and even more admirers. Yakozu competed in the World Bending Conference and was a big star in school. All of the underclassmen looked up to him and even some of the seniors wanted to be near him. Akuza was a decent enough singles player but he was much more sociable. The place where they both shined together was on the World Bending Association field but it was singles season –Akuza's time to shine.

Pro-Bending had become huge in the time since Avatar Aang's death. Its appeal grew immensely when it was separated into 3 separate conferences: The WBC, Singles, and the WBA. The WBC was a single man tournament that was highly structured and technical. It required a lot of finesse. Singles, however, was a terrible showcase of brute strength and winning power. Although the matches weren't deadly, they were extremely intense. The WBA combined aspects from both the WBC and the Single's competitions and required 3 person teams. Everyone clamored towards its stars, especially the younger ones. That attention towards Akuza made Yakozu feel insecure; like Akuza would forget about him. The two shared a lot of friends but each had a group of friends that were like family to them. When they reached their junior year, Yakozu realized how much he and Akuza were growing apart. He tried to stop the inevitable and spend more time with his brother.

"I just figured we could walk together… you know, to fighting tactics," Yakozu started.

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say. I was thinking about dropping that class actually. I don't feel like the stuff we learn is i-," Akuza started.

"-mportant? Yeah I felt the same way," Yakozu said back, finishing his brother's sentence.

"No you didn't. You know it is okay if we don't have all of the same classes, right? There is no reason to spend _this_ much time together… I see you enough as it is,"

"Well I mean then I could just quit World Bending Association… if you really feel that way," Yakozu said, offended.

"What are you talking about? I didn't even say anything about World Bending Association. What is wrong with you?" Akuza asked.

"Well since you hate spending time together, it would just be easier for both of us I guess…" Yakozu replied.

"I'm not having this conversation right now, Yakozu. You're being stupid," Akuza said.

Akuza walked to fighting tactics, visibly upset by the conversation that he had just had with his brother. He didn't hate spending time with him; he just didn't think it was realistic for them to be together all the time. He didn't want to end up going to the same college as Yakozu and he didn't want to end up working together or living next door to him.

Yakozu didn't mean to be so pushy about his brother. He just didn't want to grow apart from him. They had always been close when they were growing up. They had 2 older brothers and a sister who was a sophomore, but the two of them had always been the closest. Their brother Sozan, the oldest, was 24. They were 17. Kyle, the second oldest, was 19. He had just left their school during their sophomore year. Suza was 15 and was quickly paving her way to being the school WBC star. After a killer season last month, she left college scouts eager for her to become a junior because they could officially start contacting her.

Yakozu was proud of his family. They had all achieved great things. Through the World Bending Association, Yakozu and Akuza became well known in their school. Their sister was attracting attention from everyone because of her dynamite performance in the World Bending Conference regional tournament last month and their older brother, Kazu, had set records in Singles when he was still in high school. Sozan was always more academic than the others but still shined on the WBA court with two of his friends. Yakozu and Akuza really looked up to their older brothers but the connection that they had with them just wasn't the same.

As Akuza took his seat in fighting tactics, he waited for Yakozu to come in so he could apologize about how he had talked to him earlier. He hated knowing that Yakozu was mad or disappointed in him. With his singles season almost over, and with no hope of reaching regionals, he needed his focus to be on his brother and team building for World Bending Association which would start in a few weeks. World Bending Association was their ticket out. With 5 kids in the family, they'd need some way out of their small town. The small area left him feeling stifled. He longed to go to Empire City and fight in the big arena's that he had only heard described on the radio.

As Akuza's mind stopped wandering, he realized that class had begun about 10 minutes ago. He looked around and noticed that Yakozu still wasn't in class. It wasn't like him to miss class for so _long. _

"Can I go to the bathroom?" Akuza asked his teacher. Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed the pass and walked into the hallway. He wasn't headed to the bathroom. He knew where to find his brother.

After walking for a few minutes, Akuza rounded a corner. He found himself looking at a name plate that read _Sozan-Xi Phung. _Inside the office, Akuza saw Yakozu talking to his oldest brother Sozan. Sozan had gone to college to be a battle counselor and was finishing his final semester with a student-teacher internship at his old high school.

"Guys, you can't keep coming here to get out of class. This is going to look really bad for me if my brothers are always skipping class to come hang out with me!" Sozan laughed.

"I'm here to see why Yakozu thought it'd be okay to skip fighting tactics," Akuza replied seriously.

"I just didn't feel like going today. I'll just have Sozan right me a pass and I'll give it to the teacher at the end of the period. And don't you think he's going to wonder where you are? It's like a 5 minute walk just to get here from his room," Yakozu said.

"Don't worry about me. There's nothing that says Sozan can't write my pass too. On paper, we are talking to him about WWBA scholarship opportunities right now," Akuza replied.

"I'm not going to lie to a teacher for you, Aku," Sozan replied.

"Then don't. Let's talk about WBA," Yakozu replied. "Our plan is to have Suza on the team this year. Since you have to be a sophomore to compete and we fought with Kazu during our Sophomore year, she should fight with us. That way we can get two years in together as a team and when she graduates, she can rejoin us on the real pro circuit."

"That sounds like a good plan, Yako," Sozan said. "After her huge debut last season, everyone will be looking to see if she teams up with you guys or forms her own path in the industry. I suggest you guys start practicing because exhibition matches start as early as next week. Since we are related, it wouldn't be right for me to practice with you, but I can find someone for you to practice with. He's the same age as you guys but his grandfather was a bending battle master so don't rule him out too soon."

"Hey, what about Singles? They're still going on! I can't just give up," Akuza interjected.

"You aren't going to make regionals. There's really no point in trying anymore," Yakozu replied.

Akuza shot him a death stare and balled his fist up. He had been having a terrible season up to this point but he wasn't ready to stop trying. Sozan seemed to have picked up on the tension and reached for his communication line.

"Suza Phung to the battle counselor, please," he said over the school wide communicator. After receiving confused looks from his brothers, Sozan explained his actions.

"Don't you think she deserves to know that she'll be on the most watched team of the high school bending circuit?"

"I guess she does," Yakozu and Akuza agreed.

As Suza entered the room, they all jumped up to explain their plans. She agreed happily to the opportunity to continue their family's legacy as high school bending champions. Over the next few days everyone was excited until Sozan revealed the rest of his plan.

Calling his siblings into his office for the final time of the week, Sozan began to speak over their excited chatter.

"Your training starts tomorrow… in Empire City."

"What about school? What about Mom and Dad?" Suza yelled. Yako and Akuza echoed her quickly.

"I'll take care of all of that. You don't need more basic battle training, it's time to transfer to Empire City's battle school and begin private tutoring," Sozan said.

Suddenly all of their concerns weren't necessary anymore. They trusted their brother to handle everything; they just needed to prepare themselves for the long journey and the training that was sure to be intense.


End file.
